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disentangling the mind through awareness of feelingsobserving the breath, a sound arises—a repeating buzzer or car horn—a sense of aversion arises—then a thought "why do people have to be so impatient?"—perhaps a memory of a place that was quiet or peaceful—the mind moves into that fabrication, then perhaps launches into an inner dialogue "what did i do wrong or deserve to live here?"—and so with thoughts and images we move farther away from the breath and the event, the sound, that interruptedthis is the process that repeats itself over and over again in the chain of co-dependent arising: sense contact with the world (phassa) leads to feeling (vedana), leads to craving (tanha) leads to attachment (upadana) leads to self-identification (bhavana).So, can we trace the mental events backwards, the self condemnation, back to the memory of the better place, back to the aversion about noise, back to the car horn or buzzer.?—we eventually wind up back with the breathwe ca…

We practice meditation, mindfulness and virtuous action in the hopes we'll attain a happiness and sense of security that is longer lasting and less conditional than what we've experienced so far in life. We're all familiar with the rewards of our world which, in all its bountiful array, lends its rewards only temporarily. As the buddha explained in the eight worldly winds (Lokavipatti Sutta, AN 8):"Monks, there are eight worldly winds push us about in the world. Which eight? Gain, loss, fame, obscurity, praise, blame, pleasure and pain. These are the eight worldly wind that push us about in world."The sutta goes on to detail how—the world can praise our efforts, then suddenly switch to showering us with blame—the world can provide us with pleasure, then just as quickly strike us with painful events—the world can give us a moment of fame, then snatch it away, leaving us with obscurity—the world seems to have much to gain, and just as much to take away (note how fo…